Pipe cutters with ratchet handles are known (see, for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,697,875 dated Dec. 28, 1954). However, in known ratchet handle pipe cutters, the tubular member carrying the cutter elements together with the surrounding ring at one end of the handle are made of two hinged parts which must be open for the insertion of a pipe to be cut, and then closed over the pipe. This entails complicated structure and timeconsuming fitting of the pipe cutter over a pipe to be cut.